My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Price is what puts me off with DVD Fab. It isn't the price itself that's the issue (people need to be paid for their work), it's the requirement to pay every year (or buy multiple years in advance) in order to receive updates after the first 12 months. So you could end up with paying for something that ultimately proves useless after a year or two if you don't pay again.

My version of DVD Shrink is particularly old, and I only ever used it years ago when seeing how it worked to shrink dual-layer discs onto single-layer discs. DVD Decrypter ultimately did the job I needed it to, only it sometimes confuses audio tracks and whether essential subtitles should be included - hence my interest in a newer product. Is your DVD Shrink a more recent version?

By the way, I'll be seeking your advice on SSDs in the near future.

[Ian]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Yes, I downloaded it direct from the DVD Shrink website the other day as I had not installed it on the new laptop before.

Ian

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Is that dvdshrink.org? I can't find a link on the site - except a link on every page saying "click here to optimise your system for DVD shrink". I don't want to be clicking strange links, I'm just looking for the software. Have I got the wrong site?

[JSR]

[Ian]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Seems like you are impressed so far - how are you getting on with the touch screen and the windows 8 user interface?

Ian

[Ian]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Is that dvdshrink.org? I can't find a link on the site - except a link on every page saying "click here to optimise your system for DVD shrink". I don't want to be clicking strange links, I'm just looking for the software. Have I got the wrong site?

I just ignored all the stuff about system optimisation.

Ian

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

I've added an extra post over on the "Anyone used Windows 8" thread to cover my initial use.

Short answer - Windows 8 requires a touchscreen! The touchscreen turns what was a horrendous experience into quite a pleasant one.

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

I just ignored all the stuff about system optimisation.

Ian

I tried to but I couldn't find the link to DVD Shrink. I'll take another look over the weekend.

[Ian]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Here you go:

http://downloadcdn.betterinstaller.com/installers/2/e/DVDShrink_downloader_by_DVDShrink.exe

Ian

[Ian]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

I've added an extra post over on the "Anyone used Windows 8" thread to cover my initial use.

Short answer - Windows 8 requires a touchscreen! The touchscreen turns what was a horrendous experience into quite a pleasant one.

Makes sense

Ian

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Here you go:

http://downloadcdn.betterinstaller.com/installers/2/e/DVDShrink_downloader_by_DVDShrink.exe

Ian

Just downloaded it, thanks!

On the subject of SSDs (which I'll get to eventually), what kind of things should I be looking at and how do I know if they'll be compatible with my new laptop?

I'm a complete newb on swapping HDDs for SSDs, so anything you can offer would be helpful for the future.

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Core i processors have extra processor instructions for improving video encoding performance - as long as the software supports it you should find an even better improvement in performance than you were expecting.

After spending yesterday updating the new laptop and getting some software installed, today I've just started doing some DivX compression.

Time required invariably depends on what else the machine is doing, but I left the desktop working on some 46 minute footage overnight. Looking at the times on the files, 46 minutes typically took around 2 1/2 to 3 hours to compress.

This morning, the first footage I had the Vivobook to do was 93 minutes long. It compressed it in 95 minutes.

So the dual-core Pentium D 2.80GHz desktop (1GB RAM, 7200RPM hard drive) works at about 3 1/2 minutes per 1 minute of footage. The Core i3 1.80GHz (4GB RAM, 5400RPM hard drive), is working at about 1 minute per 1 minute of footage.

So the i3 is, as expected, about 3.5-4x faster than the desktop when it comes to video compression.

Actual day-to-day use of clicking things, opening programs, moving files, etc, doesn't feel all that much different. But the speed of video compression suggests that I'll notice the speed the most when I'm working on several things at once (which is quite ironical given that "tile UI" is designed to be a "one thing at once" environment).

[Ian]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Windows 8 is almost certainly shuffling around a lot more graphical data in the UI than Windows XP, so not noticing much difference is probably very good!

Ian

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

Windows 8 is almost certainly shuffling around a lot more graphical data in the UI than Windows XP, so not noticing much difference is probably very good!

Ian

Makes you wonder how Windows ever managed to function in the days of 75MHz processors and 8MB RAM. That was our first Windows 95 machine (before that we'd had an Amiga).

It is odd how "tile mode" is much slower to start an app than desktop mode is to start a program. I wonder what's going on that makes it so slow?

I'm sure I'll use tile mode (now that I have the touchscreen) when I'm doing flippant tasks (it feels just like a larger tablet with keyboard attached), but I've still installed ClassicShell to give me the start button and default to desktop mode for doing serious work (which I'll be doing most of the time).

[JSR]

Re: My turn for new computer/laptop advice.

I think there's something not quite right with DivX Converter. This evening it was taking 80 minutes to do a 45 minute file and, when I check the Task Manager, it's only using 50% of the available CPU (rather than the 100% - when it can get it - of my desktop PC). It's almost as though it's forgotten the other core is there.

I restarted the laptop and the first 45 minute episode only took 30 minutes to compress, but now the Task Manager seems to think it's only running at 22% at the moment.

I'll keep an eye on this behaviour. It could be a program bug - doing the first file at full-pelt, and then slowing down for subsequent files.

Also, my Vivobook doesn't seem to want to turn its screen off. When I left my old netbook running overnight, I could click one button and turn the screen off. If I do that on my Vivobook, it turns back on within a few seconds. I try to trick it by sending the video output to the second screen, but Windows 8 "cleverly" detects that there isn't a second screen and so switches the main panel back on. I tried setting a power scheme to turn the screen off, but it doesn't seem to want to turn it off. This is quite annoying.

I did a battery test this evening, too. I left the Vivobook unplugged with the screen at minimum brightness, and WiFi on, with DivX running video compression. The battery lasted 3 hours 10 minutes before it reached 5% and the Vivobook shut down (it did warn at 10%). They say that it can do about 5 hours of "normal" use, but I suspect that means "minimal use". Mid-way between 3-5 hours would probably be a more sensible estimate for normal daily tasks. It could be worse.